Freezer Party February 9

We are planning our next freezer cooking party for Saturday, February 9, 2008. . . planning to occur on Monday, February 4 at 7:00 P.M. at Panera Bread in North Charleston near the outlet mall.

Cooking to happen on Saturday from 11AM to 4PM.

Call me 843-278-2337 if you would like to borrow my freezer cooking recipe books.

We will utilize the same format/plan as previous parties unless someone has other ideas they would like us to try

Recipes

Please post your favorite (tried-and-true) freezer recipes here

Favorite Freezer Meals (please post your successes here)

The Caskey Family favorites:

Chimichangas

Crab Cakes and Orzo Salad

Honey Pecan-Crusted Chicken

December Cooking Club Party

Ladies,

Hope your Thanksgiving was blessed!!

Here’s the plan for this month: Meet similar to last month. . . a few changes, however!

TUESDAY, 11/27/2007 7:00 PM (DIFFERENT FROM LAST MONTH!!!!) – Planning party at Panera Bread in North Charleston near the outlets (right off the interstate and close to CAFB)
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY ANYTIME – Shopping on our own
SATURDAY, 12/1/2007 11AM – 4PM – Cooking PARTY at my house – using my kitchen (no cleanup at your house – I just hold you hostage ’til mine’s clean!!)

Bring your recipes on cards, printed, or in a notebook to the planning meeting TOMORROW!!!! at Panera Bread.

Here’s my plan so far (I’m obviously not as organized this time!)

November Freezer Club Party

Here is the outline – the details are further down. . .

THURSDAY, 11/8/2007 7:30 PM – Planning party at Panera Bread in North Charleston near the outlets (right off the interstate and close to CAFB)
FRIDAY, 11/9/2007 ANYTIME – Shopping on our own
SATURDAY, 11/10/2007 11AM – 4PM – Cooking PARTY at my house – using my kitchen (no cleanup at your house – I just hold you hostage ’til mine’s clean!!)

In the spirit of Proverbs 31:14-18 and 20, let’s have a cooking club party! Yeah! You can visit my good friend Joy Folken’s Blog about OAMC for a good description. Kinda’ combined once-a-month-cooking with a cooking club and revised it to work with our little freezer space. For those of you interested, I’ve included a few sites below that give ideas, recipes and hints for freezer cooking.
The way I did it before was to cook triple batches of 5 different recipes and ended up with 15 meals to use throughout the month when days get hectic or I want to be out of the house for the morning.  This month I think I’m going to make 3 or 4 meals in double or triple batches to make 12 meals for the month – we have Thanksgiving and that means lots of food, so I know we won’t eat as many freezer meals this month.

Here is the schedule, details and “assignments” for our cooking party:
Our goals:
1. To cook 3-4 double or triple recipes (6-12meals total) to freeze for emergency meals for our family for the next month
2. To share recipe and meal ideas with each other
3. To enjoy fellowship and encourage each other
Thursday: Meet at Panera Bread at 7:30-8:30 PM for meal planning, grocery list making, and planning for the actual cooking day
PLEASE BRING ON THURSDAY:
1. At least 3-5 recipes you plan to make for your family at the party – written out on cards or in a notebook
2. Recipe books/resources you got your recipes from for sharing with the group
3. Grocery ads if you aren’t shopping at the Commissary
4. Pen, paper, notebook, cooking journal, or binder
Friday: Grocery shopping on your own – Don’t forget to add freezer bags or other containers to your shopping list – when you have them bag your groceries, have them separate the fridge items from the cupboard stuff and leave those bags in the car overnight so you don’t have to reload them to come to the party.

Saturday: Meet at my house from 11AM to 4PM to cook and package meals for freezing
We will determine what each person will bring (besides the groceries to cook the meals) on Thursday.
My goal is to have cleanup done BY 4PM. up to 12 meals prepared in 5 hours!  Not bad, huh?!  By the way we’ve easily done 15 before. . . but I thought I’d start out light this first time.
Some fun informational websites. . . might get you going if you feel like you want more info
http://www.30daygourmet.com/
http://www.dinnersinthefreezer.com/
http://snider.mardox.com/OAMC.htm
http://www.momsbudget.com/freezercooking/index.html
http://www.realfood4realpeople.com/oamc.html
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20000131a.asp
Two new cookbooks that have some GREAT freezer recipes and instructions (I have these and will bring them to the planning session on Thursday so that you all can browse and use recipes if you’d like)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0696230542/102-5800966-0807306
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0800730550/102-5800966-0807306 – If you only buy one, this is the ONE to get!
Here’s a sneak peak on what I’m thinking about making:
Chimichangas (one of my family favorites and a repeat among my cooking club in Omaha)
Crab Cakes – with a YUMMY Lime dipping sauce!
Smoked Sausage Spaghetti
Pecan Crusted Honey Chicken
Hot Orzo Salad (this is a side dish)